You deserve a lawyer who cares passionately about you, your business, and your legal needs. Someone who will tirelessly fight to protect and preserve your rights. Who will go the distance with you.

Our experienced business attorneys can help you avoid potential pitfalls, achieve your long-term goals, and help you make your business grow and prosper. We strive to forge personal relationships with our business clients. Because of these relationships, we care about the success of their businesses as much as they do.

Our seasoned trial attorneys know their way around a courtroom. Whether you are facing a criminal matter or are involved in a civil lawsuit, we will be with you every step of the way.

We are a tight-knit, passionate firm of lawyers who are ready to advise you, fight for your rights, and be your most powerful and steadfast ally in the board room and in the courtroom.

Our Lawyers

Martin Pinales has been successfully defending individuals and companies in federal and state courts throughout the United States for over 45 years. In addition to his impressive trial and appellate experience, he also has extensive experience representing clients who are involved in criminal investigations and who have been called to testify before a grand jury.

Martin is a frequent lecturer throughout the United States to various bar associations on a wide array of subjects, including trial techniques and ethics. He also teaches at the National Criminal Defense College, part of Mercer Law School, in Macon, Georgia, as well as the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in New York City. Martin had the privilege of teaching trial skills at Legal Aid of China and lecturing for the doctor of laws program at the prestigious Peking Law School. He has also published articles in legal periodicals and books.

For the last several years, Tom Stachler has concentrated his practice in commercial litigation, representing individuals and businesses in employment, contract, intellectual property, and other types of business disputes. Tom has a master’s degree in accounting, which makes him uniquely qualified to handle business litigation, particularly cases involving complex damage issues. For most of his legal career, Tom has maintained a sophisticated civil practice representing plaintiffs and defendants in wrongful death, products liability, malpractice, and other types of personal injury litigation.

Shawn Young has more than 25 years of experience as a general business and corporate lawyer. Her practice includes the representation of small and mid-size companies, counseling and representing clients in a wide array of business matters, including business formation, corporate compliance, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, licensing, insurance, business financing, securities compliance, contract and lease negotiations, commercial transactions, real estate, commercial litigation, and appellate practice. She has earned the Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent Peer Review rating, which is the highest rating attorneys can achieve in both legal ability and ethical standards.

Shawn is a graduate of the Salmon P. Chase College of Law (1987), where she was the valedictorian of her class, a member of the Order of the Curia, and Articles Editor of the Northern Kentucky University Law Review.

Peter engages in a broad-ranging litigation and corporate practice with a special focus on employment matters (public and private). Peter has litigated scores of covenant not to compete/restrictive covenant cases. He counsels businesses and individuals on trade secrets, noncompetes, and related unfair competition issues outside of litigation. He has represented a number of public employers in a wide variety of employment matters and has arbitrated many just cause termination cases.

On the corporate side, Peter represents a wide range of companies, working with emerging, family-owned, and established businesses. He has also represented numerous shareholders in various aspects of shareholder disputes and fiduciary obligations among shareholders in closely-held businesses.

Candace has tried some of the most high-profile and complex state and federal criminal cases in the region. She has authored numerous appellate briefs and argued cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the Hamilton County Court of Appeals.

She has also spoken at local and national continuing legal education courses on a variety of criminal justice issues. She is also one of approximately 20 attorneys, and currently the only woman, chosen by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, to serve on the Criminal Justice Act Panel, which is a select group of qualified and court-approved attorneys.

Eric Eckes is a highly skilled trial attorney who has dedicated his law career to defending the criminally accused. A strong litigator with significant courtroom experience, Eric has successfully tried numerous complex and difficult jury trials.

Eric began his legal career in Denver, Colorado, working for the Office of the Colorado Public Defender, where he handled all levels of felony cases. He gained invaluable jury trial experience and received extensive criminal defense training from the Colorado Public Defender, whose training program is widely recognized as a national model.

Kelly is of counsel to the firm. He represents businesses in complex business litigation and performs consulting services for businesses on a wide range of issues, including human resource management, labor and employment law, OSHA compliance, contract negotiation and compliance, project and contract management, risk management, and dispute resolution. He also litigates in the areas of wrongful death and personal injury, medical malpractice, constitutional and civil rights claims, zoning and land use, insurance, and banking law.

Prior to joining the firm Mr. Lundrigan served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for a manufacturing company that engineered, fabricated and erected pressure vessels for the petro-chemical industry. Kelly has over twenty years of experience resolving and litigating matters involving complex commercial transactions. He has earned the Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent Peer Review rating, which is the highest rating attorneys can achieve in both legal ability and ethical standards. Kelly earned his law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1992.

Nicole M. Lundrigan is of counsel to the firm and is a member of our Civil Litigation Department. She practices in both state and federal court, with an emphasis on complex business and commercial litigation. Her prior experience as in-house counsel provides her with unique insight into the diverse needs of our business clients. Nicole takes a lead role in analyzing and developing litigation and dispute resolution strategies for all types of sophisticated business litigation, including class actions. Nicole’s practice also includes litigation involving construction, manufacturing, and other contract disputes, vendor and supplier disputes, product liability claims, shareholder and partnership disputes, and business fraud and trade secret litigation.

Nicole is admitted to practice in the state courts of Ohio, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She graduated from the University of Dayton summa cum laude (B.A. 1998), and was valedictorian of her law school class at Ohio Northern University (J.D. 2002). Nicole was an Editor of the Ohio Northern University Law Review (2001-2002). She was a member of Class 3 of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce’s WE Lead program. Nicole also has received recognition as an Ohio Rising Star by Ohio Super Lawyers.

Candace C. Crouse, Partner at Pinales Stachler Young Burrell & Crouse Co., LPA, was elected to a second term to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), the nation’s preeminent criminal bar association. She was sworn in at the Association’s 58th annual meeting in…
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Pinales Stachler attorneys Martin Pinales, Candace Crouse, and Eric Eckes won a Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) verdict in the case of a man who was accused of threatening to murder Speaker of the House, John Boehner, with the intent to retaliate against him on account of the…
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The wheels of justice grind slowly. Sometimes, you don’t get justice at the trial level. You have to push on to the courts of appeals. This is exactly what happened in United States v. Johnson, Case No. 14-3760 (6th Cir. 2015). Johnson was Indicted in the U.S. District Court for…
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